This year the winter solstice occurs tomorrow, Sunday 21st June. Winter has been busy in our garden with a number of activities, including putting down a deep layer of mulch to suppress weed growth and to hold moisture in the soil when dry weather comes in Summer.
While in the garden yesterday I noticed that the first of the Cootamundra wattle (Acacia baileyana) * blossoms were opening.
The tree is beside the garden path, and the photo shows the blossom buds before opening, the blue-gray foliage and dark trunk and branches.
Here is the prostrate form beside some of the newly lain mulch.
Underneath the Cootamundra this small red flower has also just started to open.
It belongs to a low spreading shrub called Swan River Pea, from Western Australia, that I have just discovered was re-classified as (Gastroloium celsianum) * in 2002. The next series of photos shows a local Banksia (B. integrifolia) * in three phases as the flower opens.
Above is a seed head.
I photographed the flowers close-up on this tree.
On a side fence is a vine pandorea pandorana * (sometimes called 'Wonga wonga vine'). I recently had to prune it quite hard as it had grown up into a tree. The vine was fairly thick and had beautiful lines.
I thought it would make a good ikebana subject. Because this single entangled piece was so long I needed to use two cylindrical vases to support the vine and explore its lines. The arrangement is 1.2 metres wide. As a contrast I have added three oriental lilies and two buds.
I have recently learnt that 14 members of the Victorian Branch of the Sogetsu School have had their work selected for 'Poetical Ikebana' the latest publication by Stichting Kunstboek in Belgium. Special congratulations to Robyn Unglik who had one of her images chosen for the front cover of the book.
Greetings from Christopher
20th June 2015
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